Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 97%
| The Hurt Locker (2009) | "
We've had good and very good Iraq movies for several years now, but The Hurt Locker has a fullness of understanding that sets it apart." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Jul 10, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Fresh 70%
| Bruno (2009) | "
The bad outweighs the good and the cringes outnumber the laughs in Brüno, a disappointment from Sacha Baron Cohen, whose Borat was one of the funniest movies of the decade." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Jul 10, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 19%
| Downloading Nancy (2008) | "
You can't really blame Bello for taking every chance available to let her monster talent off its chain, even when the opportunity takes the form of something so ill conceived and unworthy (and dull and ridiculous) as Downloading Nancy." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Jul 10, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 69%
| Julia (2009) | "
In a sense, it goes to all the places a sensitive character study might have gone, but more dramatically, convincingly and vividly." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Jul 10, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| N/A | Revolution Summer (2007) |
Click here to read article — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Jul 7, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 59%
| Surveillance (2009) | "
The most enjoyable way to watch Surveillance -- 'enjoyable' in the relative sense -- is to take its awfulness for granted and pay attention to everything Bill Pullman does." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Jul 3, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 44%
| The Girl From Monaco (2009) | "
Some movies create an inviting world for the viewer. This is one of them." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Jul 3, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 66%
| Public Enemies (2009) | "
Director Michael Mann has taken the story of John Dillinger, and has made from it a drama full of dread and atmosphere, a 140-minute film that in no way seems long, that's a succession of compelling scenes, with no dead wood." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Jul 1, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Rotten 51%
| Cheri (2009) | "
[Pfeiffer's] latest film, Cheri, finds her at the height of her ability, in a role worthy of her maturity and emotional intelligence." — Houston Chronicle Posted Jun 26, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 46%
| Whatever Works (2009) | "
Woody Allen had a nice winning streak going for him, and then he brought in his younger self to screw things up." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Jun 26, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 44%
| My Sister's Keeper (2009) | "
My Sister's Keeper has a gutsy premise, but no guts." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Jun 26, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 90%
| Katyn (2007) | "
Wajda's intensity and passion, as well as his intelligence and craft, are unmistakable from the very first sequence. Virtually from the first shot." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Jun 19, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Fresh 89%
| Moon (2009) | "
As a piece of entertainment, Moon is a failed experiment. Yet though it never becomes enjoyable or gets even within hailing distance of fun, it has some interesting ideas." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Jun 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 62%
| Tetro (2009) | "
The movie is alive from beginning to end, and it's a pleasure to see at least one big-name director get out of the prison of his own reputation." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Jun 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 17%
| Year One (2009) | "
Year One has one joke, but it's a good one, played for many variations over the course of an often very funny comedy." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Jun 19, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 66%
| Away We Go (2009) | "
Away We Go comes with a pedigree that's undeniable, but this time the filmmakers benefit from the experience, and the audience barely breaks even." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Jun 12, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 50%
| The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009) | "
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 has all the usual virtues of a good action suspense drama." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Jun 12, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 92%
| Revanche (2009) | "
Revanche is an extraordinary film, mythic in feeling, about an ex-con who falls in love with a prostitute and how their lives intertwine fatefully with that of a policeman and his wife." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 78%
| The Hangover (2009) | "
The funniest movie so far this year." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 50%
| Easy Virtue (2009) | "
[Director] Elliott had a choice in Easy Virtue, to turn away from the horror or face it. He takes his time, but he eventually does face it -- and delivers up a good movie." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted May 29, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 97%
| Up (2009) | "
To watch Up with any attention is to be moved and astonished by the economy with which specific visuals are invested with emotion throughout." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted May 29, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 93%
| Summer Hours (2009) | "
You won't find filmmaking more assured, commanding and evocative than that of Summer Hours in its opening scenes." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted May 22, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 58%
| The Girlfriend Experience (2009) | "
The first important cinematic statement about the recession." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted May 22, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 32%
| Terminator Salvation (2009) | "
Who ever thought in 2003 that we'd look back on Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines as the good old days?" — San Francisco Chronicle Posted May 19, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 46%
| Management (2009) | "
Management is just an average movie, but Aniston's performance is a very lovely thing." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted May 15, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 90%
| Il Divo (2009) | "
Il Divo is best appreciated as the bizarre character study of an essentially unlovable man who somehow became one of his country's most successful leaders." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted May 15, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 75%
| Adoration (2009) | "
Whatever mystery is here is not a function of the story but of how Egoyan chooses to tell the story. Once all is revealed, the reaction is, 'So what?'" — San Francisco Chronicle Posted May 15, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 95%
| Star Trek (2009) | "
In going back to tell the Enterprise story from the beginning, Star Trek presses collective emotional buttons people didn't even know they had. At its best, the effect is like seeing life panoramically, past and future, simultaneous and magnificent." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted May 8, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 33%
| The Limits of Control (2009) | "
The Limits of Control contains all the wonderful things that only Jim Jarmusch can do but lacks some of the necessary things that Jarmusch either can't or won't do." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted May 8, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 86%
| Tyson (2009) | "
With Tyson, [director James] Toback has found a documentary subject as tragic and ridiculous, as bizarre and driven, as the heroes of his other films." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted May 8, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 28%
| Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009) | "
Every audience member with an intellect bigger than a squid's knows at all times where Ghosts is heading." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted May 1, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 36%
| X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) | "
Wolverine is supposedly a comic book movie, and yet it violates one of the tenets of comic books: It doesn't delineate and particularize Wolverine's special powers." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted May 1, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 15%
| The Informers (2009) | "
Has an air of detachment and sadness, enhanced by the movie's being set a full quarter century ago. Like new cars in an old movie, these people may glow with youth, but we watch them in full awareness of the beaters and wrecks they'll become." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Apr 24, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 55%
| The Soloist (2009) | "
For all its sensitivity to the horrors of mental illness, The Soloist ends up as a fairly canned piece of work." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Apr 24, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 76%
| Shall We Kiss? (2008) | "
An engaging romantic comedy that's deeper, smarter and more pessimistic than it appears at first glance, a film with shrewd insight into the mysteries of human attraction." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Apr 17, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 56%
| 17 Again (2009) | "
17 Again isn't a sophisticated work of art, nor was it intended to be. It's often silly, sometimes fun silly, sometimes too silly." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Apr 17, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 85%
| State of Play (2009) | "
For about 115 minutes, State of Play tells an alarming, tightly constructed story, with serious things to say about journalism and the state of the country." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Apr 17, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 58%
| Paris 36 (2008) | "
Somehow its value is never communicated to the audience in a felt way. Or maybe that's simply the crucial aspect of Paris 36 that didn't make it safely across the Atlantic." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Apr 10, 2009 |
Rotten 0/4
| Rotten 38%
| Gigantic (2008) | "
Anyone can go off and just cynically make a bad movie, but to make a picture as inert, incompetent and emotionally fraudulent as Gigantic takes sincere faith that one is, in fact, making something really, really good." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Apr 10, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 51%
| Observe and Report (2009) | "
Observe and Report strikes me as a comedy in perfect pace with this moment. It's funny and uncompromising, offering laughs without denial." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Apr 10, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 90%
| I've Loved You So Long (2008) |
Click here to read article — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Apr 7, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 35%
| The Edge of Love (2009) | "
The Edge of Love holds a lot of promise in its first hour and never completely falls apart, but it's ultimately not the movie it might have been." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Apr 3, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 28%
| Fast & Furious (2009) | "
Aside from the opening sequence, there's nothing imaginative about it, and the actual filming is routine shaky-quick-cut stuff." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Apr 3, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 88%
| Adventureland (2009) | "
With Adventureland, Mottola is using some of the stock from his Superbad triumph to make the kind of personal film he should be making, that he probably would have liked to have made in the years following Daytrippers." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Apr 3, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 72%
| Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) | "
The cool stuff -- like 3-D and collapsing bridges -- may get filmmakers halfway there, but to make it all the way home, they need the usual movie elements, like a good story and vivid characters, and here Monsters vs. Aliens comes up short." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Mar 27, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 89%
| The Last Metro (1980) |
Click here to read article — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Mar 24, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 89%
| Sin Nombre (2009) | "
There are some brief minutes when the tension drops and the story starts to sag, but Fukunaga almost always fills the frame with something worth seeing, and the story has a built-in suspense." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Mar 20, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 73%
| Sunshine Cleaning (2009) | "
Sunshine Cleaning emerges as that rare American specimen -- a strong movie about women." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Mar 20, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Fresh 66%
| Duplicity (2009) | "
As a caper film, Duplicity is a fizzle. As a mystery, it's a cheat." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Mar 20, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 12%
| Crossing Over (2009) | "
There's more genuine conviction in Ford's face, more complexity, honesty and ability to incite compassion, than everything else in Crossing Over combined." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Mar 13, 2009 |
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